Fence.



PATENTED APR. 4, 1905.

A. K. KELLER.

FENCE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.11,1904.

UNITED STATES Patented April 4, 1905.

PATENT OEEIcE.

ALBERT K. KELLER, OF ADRIAN, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THE INTER- NATIONALMACHINE COMPANY, OF ADRIAN, MICHIGAN, A CORPORA- TION OF MICHIGAN.

FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 786,363, dated April4, 1905.

Application filed January 11, 1904. Serial No. 188,487.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT K. KELLER, a citizen of the United States,residing in Adrian, Lenawee county, State of Michigan, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Fences, of which the following isa specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming a part thereof.

In the manufacture of wire fence in which the wires are bound togetherat their points of intersection as distinguished from wire fence inwhich the wires are woven together considerable difficulty has beenexperienced in obtaining a thoroughly satisfactory knot or buckle tounite the intersecting wires. Many of the knots now employed for thispurpose are of such a nature as to render them difficult to apply,others are blanked out of stock with considerable loss of material, andstill others require a particular stamping: or forming after they areout and before they can be applied. Some of the knots now in use areapplied to join the intersecting wires of the fence in such a way as tobe easily detachable therefrom, while in the application of other knotsto join together the intersecting wires of the fence the wires are bentat the intersections in such a way as to materially weaken the fence andto render the (letachment of the knots easy. Furthermore, certain kindsof wire fence now in use are provided with knots or buckles in whichwater can collect and freeze, whereby the knots or buckles work loose orbecome destroyed and whereby the wires of the fence are sometimesparted.

It is the object of this invention to provide a knot or buckle to beused in this connection, which knot or buckle has none of theaforementioned objections. This improved knot or buckle will beparticularly described hereinafter with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figures 1 and 2 are respectively front and rearelevations of a portion of the fence, taken around an intersection of alongitudinal and a transverse wire therein. Figs. 3 and A. arerespectively sections taken upon the plane indicated by the lines 3 3and 4 4c in Fig. 2. Fig.

5 is a plan view of one of the buckles just as,

it is formed and before it is applied to an intersection of the wires toform the fence, and Fig. 6 is a front elevation of a fence in which thewires have been joined in accordance with this invention.

As will be seen upon reference to Fig. 6, the fence to which thisinvention relates is made up of longitudinal wires 0, which are properlyspaced and held in position by transverse stay-wires b, the latter beingsecured to the longitudinal wires at their intersections with the same.The longitudinal wires are substantially straight throughout, while thetransverse stay-wires are bent around each of the longitudinal wires atthe intersections in the manner clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4, so that,as will be obvious, the longitudinal wires and the transverse stay-wireslie substantially in the same plane. It will be understood that in afence of this sort the longitudinal wires at one time or another aresubjected to considerable tension, while very little strain ever comesupon the transverse or stay wires. Partly for this reason and partly forother reasons it is customary to crimp the longitudinal wires by causingthe fence to pass through a suitable crimping-machine, whereby thelongitudinal wires are curved gently, so that they are actually sinuousinstead of absolutely straight throughout. Nevertheless a short portionof the wire which passes through the intersections may be referred to asand for all practical purposes is straight, and the word straight asapplied to the longitudinal wires is used herein to refer to a wirewithout kinks. It is highly desirable that the longitudinal wires befree from all sharp bends and kinks,which render these wires liable topart and, if occurring at the intersections, make it easy for thebuckles to be ripped off. To unite the two sets of wiresthe longitudinalwires and the transverse or stay wiresa knot or buckle is provided,having what may be termed a body portion 0 and ears, which afterwardbecome the curved or lapped portions (Z. The knot or buckle is formedfrom a substantially square blank, Fig. 5, by simply cutting the same,as indicated in Fig. 5, to form the ears d. A buckle is applied to eachintersection of a pair of wires in the fence, the body portion 0, aswill be obvious, lying substantially in the plane of the front side ofthe fence, while the curved portions are bent or lapped around the wireson each side of the intersection and close to the intersection. I amaware that buckles have been formed from similarlyshaped blanks bycutting, as shown in the drawings; but such buckles have afterward beenrequired to be stamped or shaped in aparticular manner in order thatthey might lit the particular joint for which they were designed; butasI apply my buckle to the front side of an intersection of the wires toform the fence, which front side, as is obvious from the drawings, liesin one plane, no shaping whatever is required or takes place when thebuckle is applied save the bending of the portions (Z around the wiresforming the intersection. The finished joint in my fence accordinglycomprises a straight section of wirethat is, the longitudinal wire -acurved section of WiI'GilliiLi) is, the stay-wire and the particularlyshaped buckle, with its body portion in the plane of the front side ofthe intersections and its curved portions lapped about the sections ofwire passing through the intersections.

It will be noted that the particular shape and disposition of the wiresat the joint cooperate with the particular form of the buckle to bringthe curved or lapped portions of the buckle close to the intersection ofthe wires about which the buckle is placed. This is desirable so as toprevent the formation of a space between the curved portions of thebuckle and the intersection in which water might gather, freeze, andthen, owing to expansion, destroy the joint altogether. \Vhat slightspace is formed in the presentconstruction may be, as shown in Fig. 2,closed by a filling c, which may be of any suitable composition or beproduced by galvanizing the joint.

In constructing the fence just described it will be necessary to providemeans for bending the transverse or stay wires in the manner indicatedeither before or during the application of the buckles. The latter maybe applied and clenched in any suitable manner.

1 have described in an accompanying application, filed January 26, 1904,Serial No. 190,654, a machine for constructing a fence which is to bebuilt in accordance with this invention and to which reference may behad. It will be obvious, however, that this invention is not limited toany particular machine or manner of construction.

I claim as my invention- A fence having longitudinal wires andtransverse stay-wires, the longitudinal wires being substantiallystraight while the transverse stay wires are curved at the intersectionsthereof with the longitudinal wires, a buckle at each intersection ofthe longitudinal and transverse wires, said buckle having a body portionand a curved or lapped portion, the body portion being in the plane ofthe front side of the fence and the lapped portion being bent around thewires on each side of the intersection and close to the intersection,and a filling at each intersection between the buckle and theintersection.

This specification signed and witnessed this 6th day of January, A. D.1904:.

ALBERT K. KELLER.

In presence of- J. WV. ITIELME, J. C. JoHNsoN.

